Ash is Purest White

July 6, 2019 - July 14, 2019

Jia Zhangke’s extraordinary body of work has doubled as a record of 21st-century China and its warp-speed transformations. Ash Is Purest White is at once his funniest and most emotionally generous film–a smart rumination on love and a 21st century, feminist take on the gangster film.

Zhao Tao, the filmmaker’s muse, and wife, stars as the formidable, quick-witted Qiao, a heroine for the ages.

in Mandarin with subtitles | 136 minutes

ENTHRALLING! -The New York Times

This is one of Zhangke’s peak achievements: pure cinema, and a story of the underworld UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU’VE SEEN BEFORE. -Chicago Tribune

Above all, there is Zhao Tao. Trained as a dancer, she has been the leading lady in many of Jia’s films, starting with “Platform” (2000), and his wife since 2012. Theirs may be the most fruitful partnership between a director and a spouse since Roberto Rossellini joined forces with Ingrid Bergman. -The New Yorker

Jia Zhang-ke has become a cinematic poet of the 21st century. – New York Magazine